


Between Things

by Glittermonkey (Schizanthus)



Category: Velvet Goldmine
Genre: Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-23
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 21:10:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/854089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schizanthus/pseuds/Glittermonkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meaningless fluff. Or not. A little break, a bit of pondering, and a camel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Things

**Author's Note:**

> Posted to ff.net back in 1/29/2003.

HOTEL SUITE -- LONDON -- 1973

"Man, you must've been on some real good shit when you wrote this."

"Pardon?" Brian looked up from the sheet of paper he'd been busily scratching chords out on.

"This," said Curt, waving a newly printed sheet of lyrics in his general direction. "The only way these make sense to anyone is if they're totally wasted."

"You think so?" Brian leaned over and snatched the lyrics from Curt, perusing them intently. After a long pause, he shrugged and tossed them back. "They look fine to me. It's not enough that the syllables complement the melody, or that the composite essence of a dozen wordstrokes might simply create the perfect frame for a first-rate guitar solo?"

"Well, look at it. 'Heil to the monkey?'" A skeptical raise of the eyebrow.

Another pause. "I see."

"You see?"

Grabbing a cushion, Brian plopped himself down next to where Curt was sprawled on the sofa. "Yes, I see. Let me tell you about a dream I had last night."

"Did it involve me?"

"Yes."

"Cool. Shoot."

"We were on Mount Everest. It was very pretty and snowy."

"Why Mount Everest?"

"Prime skiing conditions? I don't know. Why not?"

"Brian, you break out the fur coats when we visit the dairy section of the supermarket."

"Oh, hush."

Curt gave a noncommittal snort.

"So we're on Mount Everest or something like it. And one thing leads to another, so soon we're making love in the snow."

The sound of coughing. "Ummm... no. Do you know what happens to exposed body parts in that kind of weather? Right up there with having an ice cube enema. It's enough to make even me think twice before whipping it out. I'm good, but not that good."

"This was a dream, Curt. Besides, you're missing the point."

"There's a point to this?"

"Maybe. So there we are. I'm wearing a flea collar and not much else... and have this incessant craving for a rawhide chew. And you... you're in a monk's habit and this strange set of beige pyjamas. And the haircut! Gods, it was horrible. Well, the majority of it was. The little braided leash part might have been fun."

"This is coming from the man who thinks pink wigs are a good idea."

"All your hair was cut short! There was hardly any left! Did I ever tell you how much I love your hair long, by the way?"

"I think you just find it more convenient to hold onto than my ears."

"Possibly. But I really do think it's a very attractive look on you."

"I promise never to change it, then."

"Anyway, you'll never guess what happened next."

"You're right. I won't even try."

"We got accosted by a camel."

"A camel?"

"It tried to pass itself off as a llama, tricky bastard, but I know a camel when I see one."

"A camel?"

"Oh, it wasn't that big a deal, I suppose. It was a friendly camel, after all."

"It told you it was friendly?"

"Well, no. It just kept on inching closer to us while we were doing it. Looked like it wanted in on the action."

Curt shifted uncomfortably.

"But I told it no, of course. I might have a liberal stance on all sorts of experimentation, but I'm not about to share you with any large quadrupeds. A man's got to have his standards."

"I'm... glad. I think."

"I thought you would be. Finally, it got tired of waiting around and threw a pogo stick at us."

"Because that's obviously what camels carry around when they go to the mountains."

"So then you suddenly had a brilliant idea about how to use the pogo stick."

"I did?"

"Yes."

"What was it?"

"I have my suspicions, but sadly, I woke up before they could be confirmed."

Curt nodded slowly. "And there was a point to all that?"

"Is there?"

"You just said there was a point!"

"I did? I must have lied."

"D'oh."

Brian blinked and thought back over the last few minutes. "Ah, yes. Now, there are three possible conclusions that we can draw from all this. One. I'm a complete nutcase."

Curt nodded emphatically.

"Wait! Listen to all the options first before deciding."

"You know what they say about voting early and voting often."

"Two. There are darker forces at work here and we are doomed to live our lives catching only random glimpses of a larger picture, as characters in a vast story. Haunting images that we will never understand from what little we see -- moments of deja vu that will never be anything more. It will always seem bizarre and aimless to us because we toil on without the necessary backdrop of knowledge and experiences to explain it all."

"I still like option one."

"Three. What you see and what you mean might not necessarily correlate. The mind works in mysterious ways. Maybe there is no meaning. Maybe you bring the meanings with you, and all one can do is provide the means of unlocking them. In which case, who are we to decide what might or might not have meaning, based merely on the rules of grammar and syntax?"

Curt blinked and sat silently for a while, mulling this over. Brian beamed triumphantly.

"Or," Curt finally added, "maybe you're just seeing how much crap they'll let you get away with."

Brian gave him an enigmatic smile. "Always a possibility."

Shaking his head, Curt went back to lolling listlessly. This lasted for all of ten seconds.

"Want to hear another story?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"It involves a banana, a megaphone, and a fur whip..."

-finis-

**Author's Note:**

> Just something dashed out over the weekend to help get myself back into a fluffier frame of mind after the weirdness of last week. A response to two -- count them -- two challenges from the PBU list. Thom's word challenge and Bosie's camel challenge.


End file.
